Share

Maybe if Juan Borgia had put on a shirt every now and again, it wouldn't have come to this.Image courtesy Ubisoft

Assassin's Creed tells the story of a man who uses a high-tech computer to relive the memories of his deadly ancestors. Brotherhood, the latest videogame in the series, allows you to relive your memories of playing Assassin's Creed II in 2009.

I'm of two minds about Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, released Tuesday for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. On the one hand, I enjoyed it, and would recommend it to anyone held in absolute thrall by last year's game. Stealthily clambering over the rooftops of 15th-century Italy and assassinating your political enemies is still a potent gameplay formula, and Brotherhood's new multiplayer mode puts a unique spin on things by adding a unique factor: human intelligence.

On the other hand, this is the laziest cashed-in, churned-out sequel (without the name Guitar Hero on it) of the year. The whole thing feels like it should have been a downloadable add-on. In essence, it's just a pack of new levels for Assassin's Creed II – same characters, same moves, same everything. The new features Ubisoft grafted onto the game are largely inelegant.

I like Assassin's Creed, and don't want the franchise to come crashing to the ground, but while Brotherhood is fun, it feels a bit like fiddling while Rome burns.

(Spoiler alert: Plot points from Assassin's Creed II follow.)

Reliving the Past
—————–

After the fantastic twist ending of Assassin's Creed II, we were done with Florentine nobleman/assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze. He'd fulfilled his mission, so there was no longer any reason for the series' main character, Desmond, to enter the Animus computer and relive his assassin ancestor's life.

The big question on players' minds was, "Where will Desmond go next?" The answer is nowhere, for now; just straight back into Renaissance Italy for the anticlimactic continuation of Ezio's adventures.

This time, he has a ready-made enemy in that wacky, murderous, incestuous Borgia family. But unlike the intriguing period mystery (and simultaneous present-day drama) of the last game, Brotherhood feels more like a straight-to-DVD side story, like how Disney managed to squeeze out two more Aladdin movies after the genie got out of that particular bottle.

The gameplay still works, though, and it's addictive enough to keep one moving through Brotherhood at a rapid clip. The city of Rome is dotted with many interesting things to do – assassinate a guy here, explore an ancient tomb there – largely staving off any feeling of repetition or fatigue.

Plus, Brotherhood adds a few wrinkles to the gameplay. Rome is now filled with dilapidated shops and businesses that you can purchase and renovate. This generates income. Income is used to buy more shops and businesses. Repeat.

There's no strategy or skill to any of this – it's just click-click-click busywork. I spent a great deal of time running about in Rome buying stores, clicking to renovate them, clicking the bank to withdraw more florins, then pouring the virtual money into ever-more-expensive properties, when I had a sudden realization.

"Oh God," I thought. "I'm playing FarmVille."

The other major addition to the game is the titular band of assassins who assist you. At most points in the game, you can call them in to assassinate people without having to get your hands dirty. Just press a button while you have an enemy highlighted and they'll leap in and take him down.

This is fun stuff, watching them pull off an assassination without you being discovered. They'll be more skilled at it once you build up their levels. And how do you do that? Why, you go into another menu and click-click-click away, sending them off on assassination missions and waiting for them to come back. Again, this isn't strategy- or skill-based, just Facebook-style busywork.

I hate to admit that there's a certain addictive quality to all this, but there is. I can know in my heart that I'm just in an elaborate Skinner box, but that doesn't stop me from pressing the lever.

Much like in real life, you never know when your friends are going to stab you in the back in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.Image courtesy Ubisoft

Cool Assassination, Bro
———————–

Brotherhood's multiplayer mode is a better addition to the game, adding a layer of complexity that can be intriguing.

At one point, I was on the lookout for a guy dressed like a Harlequin. My compass told me he was just over the next rooftop. I peered over the side and saw ... a whole bunch of guys dressed like Harlequins. How should I find my target? The best bet was to look for the one acting like a human.

In Brotherhood's multiplayer modes, you'll roam around a small area filled with computer-operated players and a few humans. You'll always have an assassination target and someone, maybe multiple people, will be coming after you. So you'll be trying to blend in with your surroundings while stalking your prey.

I didn't really get into multiplayer when I went it alone in "Wanted" mode. Since someone was always after me, I didn't feel like I had any time to really stalk my prey because if I took too long I'd get a knife in my back. So I did what everyone else was doing – I ran around at breakneck speed going kill-crazy.

But in the team-based "Manhunt" mode, things opened up – specifically, when I was on a team of players who all had headset microphones. Suddenly, we could stay in a group. If one of us lost an assassination contract by killing the wrong person, the other members of the team still had a bead on our real enemies and could lead us to them.

We shared our initial thoughts on staying hidden – we'd find a group of computer players and walk with them, trying to act as much as possible like a robot, blending with the background noise. We'd try to spot anyone that acted in a manner that computer characters wouldn't, whether they were sprinting around hitting walls or just standing too still. We'd send one attacker to chase them across the rooftop, then have somebody else go around the side and flank them by surprise.

I don't think the game would have been nearly as fun or interesting, however, without a team full of cooperative people with headsets on. It would have felt as chaotic and aimless as going it solo.

Brotherhood leaves it up to you to figure out even the most basic things about its multiplayer modes. There's little more than a cursory tutorial that explains the user interface. You can read the in-game manual, but even that doesn't do a very good job of telling you what it is you're supposed to be doing. I had to ask my teammates to explain everything to me.

Technically, multiplayer seemed to have some problems. We spent a lot of time before each match waiting for the system to find partners and connect us all.

Considering Assassin's Creed Brotherhood as a total package, it's just barely worth full price. There's a decent quantity of content, but the amount that's recycled from the last game is stunning, a purely cynical ploy to squeeze out more money in lieu of preserving any semblance of artistic integrity.

Madden NFL can be a yearly franchise, but this game shouldn't be. Let's give it a breather and treat Assassin's Creed III with the respect it deserves.